Raúl Horacio Madero (21 May 1939 – 24 December 2021) was an Argentine sports physician and

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player. He served two terms as the physician of the

Argentina national football team The Argentina national football team (), nicknamed ''La Albiceleste'' (), represents Argentina in men's international Association football, football and is administered by the Argentine Football Association, Asociación del Fútbol Argentino ( ...

Sporting career

As a teenager, Madero was drawn initially to

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

, but decided on football when it became clear he had the talent to make it in the professional league. He played for

Boca Juniors Club Atlético Boca Juniors () is an Argentine professional sports club based in La Boca, a neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. The club is best known for its men's professional Association football, football team which, since its promotion in 1913 ...

and

Huracán Huracán (; ; , "one legged"), often referred to as ''U Kʼux Kaj'', the "Heart of Sky", is a Kʼicheʼ Maya god of wind, storm, fire and one of the creator deities who participated in all three attempts at creating humanity. He also caused th ...

but he came into his own with the

Estudiantes de La Plata ( lit. "La Plata Students"), simply referred to as Estudiantes de La Plata, is an Argentine professional sports club based in La Plata. The club's football team currently competes in the Primera División, where it has spent most of its histo ...

team that won several national and international titles between 1967 and 1970. He was also cited for the national team. He scored only nine goals for Estudiantes, but one of these goals was a crucial header against

Quilmes Quilmes () is a city on the coast of the Rio de la Plata, in the , on the southeast end of the Greater Buenos Aires, being some away from the urban centre area of Buenos Aires. The city was founded in 1666 and is the seat of the eponymous '' ...

that helped Estudiantes avoid relegation. Madero provided firmness but also elegance as a defender, playing alongside the less-polished

Ramón Aguirre Suárez Ramón Alberto Aguirre Suárez (18 October 1944 – 29 May 2013) was an Argentine footballer who played as a defender. He was mainly known for being a part of the successful Estudiantes de La Plata team of 1967–1970. Career Aguirre Suárez m ...

Medical career

Madero and fellow player

Carlos Bilardo Dr. Carlos Salvador Bilardo (born 16 March 1938) is an Argentine former physician, football player, and manager. Bilardo achieved worldwide renown as a player with Estudiantes de La Plata in the 1960s, and as the manager of the Argentina side t ...

retired after graduating as Medical Doctors. While Bilardo remained in football as a coach, Madero chose to specialize in sports medicine. In the late 1970s, he was

team physician The team physician for a sports team is the physician who is in charge of coordinating the medical staff and medical services for a sports team. They are also subject to activities involving team building. The goal of a team physician is to improve ...

Argentinos Juniors Asociación Atlética Argentinos Juniors is an Argentine sports club based in La Paternal, Buenos Aires. The club is mostly known for its association football, football team, which currently plays in the Argentine Primera División, and was reco ...

. When

Diego Maradona Diego Armando Maradona Franco (30 October 196025 November 2020) was an Argentine professional association football, football player and manager. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, he was one of the two ...

transferred from Argentinos to

, Madero went with him and took part in the successful 1981 championship campaign. In 1983, newly minted national coach Bilardo asked his friend Madero to be the physician of the

. Madero accepted, and remained in the position until 1990. Argentina was champion of

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

1986 and finalist in the 1990 edition. The fitness trainer was another Estudiantes veteran, Ricardo Echevarría. After Bilardo's departure and a tenure as head of medicine with the

Argentine Football Association The Argentine Football Association (, ; AFA) is the governing body of football in Argentina based in Buenos Aires. It organises the main divisions of Argentine football league system, Argentine league system (from Argentine Primera División, Pri ...

, in 1996 Madero was made a member of

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

's Sports Medical Committee and the FIFA Medical Assessment and Research Centre (F-MARC). In 2007, Madero was designated again as physician for the national team under coach

Alfio Basile Alfio "Coco" Basile (born 1 November 1943) is an Argentine football manager and former player. He played for Racing Club de Avellaneda and Huracán before becoming a manager. He coached many teams during his career, being most notable Racing Cl ...

, who was Madero's teammate in the national team in the late sixties. Madero endorsed

's decision to prohibit the playing of international matches at a height of 2500 m (8200 ft) and above, citing medical concerns (notably, the increased incidence of

respiratory alkalosis Respiratory alkalosis is a medical condition in which Tachypnea, increased respiration elevates the blood pH beyond the normal range (7.35–7.45) with a concurrent reduction in arterial levels of carbon dioxide. This condition is one of the four ...

when playing in

oxygen Oxygen is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group (periodic table), group in the periodic table, a highly reactivity (chemistry), reactive nonmetal (chemistry), non ...

-poor environments). In 2009, Maradona and Bilardo, now coach and manager of the national team, decided to reinstate Donato Villani as team physician, thus ending Madero's second term. Madero was also head of the Sports Medicine program in the Buenos Aires branch of the

Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina The Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina (), also known as Catholic University of Argentina (; UCA), is a private university in Argentina with campuses in the cities of Buenos Aires, Santa Fe, Rosario, Paraná, Mendoza and Pergamino. The ...

Personal life and death

Madero died on 24 December 2021, at the age of 82.

Honours

Estudiantes *

Primera División Argentina Primera may refer to * Nissan Primera, a car * Primera Air, a former airline * Primera división (disambiguation), multiple top division football leagues * Primera, Texas, a town in Cameron County, Texas * Alí Primera Ely Rafael Primera Ros ...

Metropolitano Metropolitano S.A. was a privately owned consortium formed in 1994 to take over concessions granted by the Argentine government as part of railway privatisation during the presidency of Carlos Menem for the operation of commuter rail services i ...

1967 *

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as Copa Libertadores de América (), is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in South American club football. The tournam ...

: 1968, 1969, 1970 *

Copa Interamericana The Copa Interamericana () was an international association football, football competition endorsed by CONCACAF (North, Central America and Caribbean) and CONMEBOL (South America). Established in 1969, it was discontinued in 1998 after CONCACAF ...

: 1968 * Intercontinental Cup: 1968

References

External links

FIFA profile, no longer working
->
CONMEBOL Article
{{DEFAULTSORT:Madero, Raul 1939 births 2021 deaths Argentine men's footballers Men's association football defenders Argentina men's international footballers Boca Juniors footballers Club Atlético Huracán footballers Estudiantes de La Plata footballers Copa Libertadores–winning players Argentine Primera División players Argentine people in sports Argentine physicians Sports physicians Footballers from Buenos Aires 20th-century Argentine sportsmen